As individuals age, most notice changes in their cognitive processes such as perception and memory. Most of the previous work on cognitive aspects of aging expresses a specific experimental task, such as remembering a list of words or listening to one speaker while ignoring another. In contrast, this proposal examines the overall pattern of an individual's cognition as he or she ages. Specifically, it asks whether individuals become increasingly dependent on linguistic forms of representation, which in turn affects their perception, attention, memory, problem solving, and reasoning skills. Most young adults can be classified as language-bound (LB) or language-optional (LO). Although they are classified as LB or LO on the basis of a very specific language perception task, performance on this task predicts performance on a wide variety of other cognitive tasks. There are roughly equal proportions of LBs and LOs among young adults. However pilot work with the aged yielded only LBs. The proposed work seeks to: 1) verify that older people are indeed LB; 2) determine the locus of such an effect; 3) determine whether the aged perform other key cognitive tasks in the same ways that young LBs do; and 4) determine whether the LB-LO distinction provides a useful way to construct models of cognitive development over the lifespan. These aims will be achieved using techniques from experimental psychology, linguistics, and audiology. People generally believe that mental abilities automatically "slide downhill" as they age. The proposed work may change this potentially self-damaging view by showing older people that they can do well or even excel in certain types of cognitive tasks. Furthermore, it may provide strategies for coping with difficult tasks that match the general pattern of cognition possessed by the aged. If so, then the overall mental health of older people would receive a positive boost, while the prospect of aging might seem less discouraging to young and middle-aged individuals.